Growing up in the ‘wilds’ of the orange groves of Southern California, also meant that you probably also had small, family run farm stands nearby taking advantage of the then semi-rural, open landscape, which was not that long ago and is almost impossible to imagine today. We’d stop, pick up ears of corn, still warm from standing tall in the summer sun, drive the few blocks home and sit outside and shuck the corn, such a simple thing I took for granted.

Fresh sweet corn in the markets or from roadside stands (if you can still find one) is a menu staple of summer. This salad takes full advantage of the corn’s sweetness off the cob, which is an easy procedure. After shucking and cleaning the corn (try to remove as many of the silk threads as you can) I cut off the stem end, creating a stable base, stand the corn on end and carefully cut downward, slicing the kernels off the cob (they do tend to pop off the cob so have a rather large work area set up to avoid a mess).

The sweet corn is accented with Southern California flavors of avocado, cilantro and a dash of chile. The dressing is quickly whirled in the blender and the salad chills, so you can chill too.

Dear Bijouxs,
Should I cook the ears of corn, or keep them raw?
Yours,
Virg

Bijouxs writes

Hi Virginia! Here I used the sweet corn raw, you can also blanch the corn in boiling water for a very short time – 2-3 minutes and then proceed with the recipe or even use frozen corn, defrosted and well drained, so there is no liquid. When sweet corn is really good you can just eat it off the cob raw, that’s sometimes what we did as kids. Happy 4th!